Jewel setting



July 19, 1966 J. STANLEY 3,261,072

JEWEL SETTING Filed Dec. 4, 1965 Q I NVEN TOR.

dose/ w STANLEY BY 55 j. .15.

United States Patent 3,261,072 JEWEL SETTING Joseph Stanley, 97-07 63rd Road, Rego Park, Long Island, N.Y. Filed Dec. 4, 1963, Ser. No. 328,009 12 Claims. (Cl. 29-8) My invention relates to improvements in jewel settings and in methods of preparing same.

Presently available settings have a variety of shortcomings.

Some settings are too ornate to suit modern taste but cannot be adequately modified without becoming unsatisfactory mechanically. The trend in consumer preference is away from the ornamental settings favored in the past and toward settings with simple, clean lines. As a result, the more elaborate of the presently available settings are often too cumbersome and ornate to be used, and yet cannot be adequately modified without impairing the mechanical efficiency of the setting in receiving and retaining a stone.

A further deficiency of some presently available methods of setting jewels is that the settings are bulky and therefore use more gold, platinum or similar setting material than is commercially desirable. As a result, they are too costly for inexpensive applications.

Another deficiency of some conventional settings is that they cannot be used to mount small stones as they either hide too much of the stone from view or else cannot effectively grip such a stone.

A related deficiency of some settings is that they hide too much of even a larger-sized stone from view. It is generally desirable that a setting be relatively inconspicuous and allow as much of the stone to be seen as possible. Bulky settings not only reduce the stones visible sparkle and brilliancy, but also tend to make a stone appear smaller than it actually is.

A disadvantage of some conventional methods of preparing settings is that a jeweler must custom-cut the inside of the setting for each jewel. Such a procedure is time-consuming and also increases the cost of the setting.

Another disadvantage of some methods of setting jewels is that they require various portions of the setting, for example fingers of a socket, to be twisted in one direction or another. When such a method as this is used, not only will the twisted portion frequently snap 01f while the setting is being prepared, but such a setting will also frequently have been sufficiently weakened internally by the twisting to fail after the stone has been mounted and the jewelry sold.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved setting for jewels which has simple, clean lines and uses a minimum amount of gold, platinum or other setting material.

It is a further object of my invention to provide an improved setting for jewels which may be used for smallersized stones.

It is another object of my invention to provide an improved setting for jewels which allows as much of the stone as possible to be seen.

It is another object of my invention to provide an improved method of preparing settings for jewels which has the characteristics recited in each of the three immediately preceding paragraphs.

It is a still further object of my invention to provide an improved method of preparing settings for jewels which reduces the amount of custom handwork required to prepare a setting.

It is another object of my invention to provide an improved method of preparing settings for jewels which allows the positioning of the jewel in the setting to be varied with minimum variation in the method of preparing the setting.

Still another object of my invention is to provide an improved method of preparing settings for jewels which results in a minimum amount of undesirable stresses being applied to the various portions of the setting.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a socket prepared according to the teachings of my invention which is adapted to receive and retain a jewel;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary plan view of a sheet or strip of fiat stock metal into which four indentations have been impressed according to the teachings of my invention;

FIGURE 3 is a partially diagrammatic and fragmentary cross sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG- URE 2 showing a sheet or strip of stock metal resting upon a support, and also showing the die used to impart the indentation into the stock metal according to the teachings of my invention;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary plan view of a sheet or strip of flat stock metal into which four indentations have been impressed and a central hole punched according to the teachings of my invention;

FIGURE 5 is a partially diagrammatic and fragmentary cross sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG- URE 4 showing a sheet or strip of stock metal resting upon a support, and also showing the cylindrical punch die used to form the central hole shown in FIGURE 4 according to the teachings of my invention;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a sheet or strip of flat stock metal out of which a blank has been punched according to the teachings of my invention, the blank having a center coincident with the central hole and also a plurality of radially extending fingers each extend-ing normally through an indentation;

FIGURE 7 is a partially diagrammatic and fragmentary cross sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG- URE 6 showing a sheet or strip of stock metal resting upon a support, and also showing the die used to punch the blank which was described in relation to FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a plan view of the blank referred to above in relation to FIGURES 6 and 7;

FIGURE 9 is a partially diagrammatic and fragmentary cross sectional view of the blank of FIGURE 8 located between a die having a male and female portion, with the male portion of the die having been inserted into the female portion, thereby bending the fingers of the blank toward the male portion to form a socket with the indentations in the inside of the fingers; and

FIGURE 10 is a partially diagrammatic and cross sectional view of the socket shown in FIGURE 1 along the line 1010 thereof, which has been mounted onto a ring and into which a jewel has been inserted such that its girdle is within the indentations in the inside of the fingers of the socket.

Briefly stated, in the preferred embodiment of my invention, I prepare a jewel setting by successively impressing a plurality of indentations into a flat metallic sheet, each indentation having an edge tangential to a reference circle of predetermined diameter; punching a hole into the metallic sheet at the center of the circle; punching a blank out of the metallic sheet having a center coincident with the center of the circle and a plurality of radially extending fingers, each finger extending normally through an indentation; locating the blank between a die having a male and a female portion such that the side of the blank with the indentations faces the male portion of the die; inserting the male portion of the die into the female p'ortion and thereby bending the fingers of the blank toward the male portion to form a socket with the indentations on the inside of the socket; and inserting a jewel into the socket such that a portion of its girdle lies within each indentation.

Also briefly stated, the preferred embodiment of my socket comprises a cup-shaped base portion having a hole through its center; and a plurality of finger portions extending from the base portion, each finger portion having a transverse indentation in its inside surface which is adapted to receive and retain a jewel, and each finger por tion being so aligned with the base portion that the external periphery of the socket defines a truncated cone.

Turning to the figures, FIGURE 1 is a perspective view ofa socket 12 prepared according to the teachings of my invention which has an interior contour suitable for receiving and retaining a jewel. The inner sides of each of its four fingers 14 have transverse identations 16 toward their extremities. Each indentation 16 has an angular profile conforming to the shape of the jewel with which the setting is to be used and thereby providing a seat or shoulder 18 for the jewel to rest upon and a clinch or cramp 20 to hold the jewel in place. At the center of the cup-shaped base portion of socket 12 a hole 22 has been provided which allows light to pass through the jewel when the socket has been mounted upon a ring, bracelet, brooch or similar jewelry piece and thereby increases the sparkle and brilliancy of the jewel.

FIGURES 2-8 illustrate my preferred method for preparing socket 12.

Specifically, FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary plan view of a sheet or strip 24 of flat stock metal, such as gold, platinum or similar setting material into which a plurality of indentations 16 has been stamped or impressed. These indentations 16 each have their inside edges tangential to a reference circle 26 having a predetermined diameter. The diameter of the reference circle is selected such that after a socket such as the one illustrated in FIGURE 1 has been prepared, indentations 16 lie at the desired distance from the bottom of socket 12 and the extremities of the fingers. The precise distance would depend, for example upon the size and shape of the jewel, the prominence to be given the jewel, and how socket 12 is to be fastened to the ring or other jewelry piece.

FIGURE 3 is a partially diagrammatic and fragmentary cross sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIGURE 2 showing a sheet or strip 24 of flat stock metal resting upon a rigid support 28 after an indentation 16 has been impressed into the stock metal by means of a plunger die 30. The plunger die has a cutting edge 32 with an angular profile corresponding to the profile desired of indentation 16. A plurality of such plunger dies might be used simultaneously, the precise number depending upon the number of discrete indentations desired. Also, plunger die 30 might take the form of a hand-manipulated engravers chisel or be mechanically operated.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the sheet or strip 24 of stock metal shown in FIGURE 2 having a hole 22 through the center of reference circle 26. As illustrated in FIGURE 5, which is a partially diagrammatic and fragmentary cross sectional view taken along the line 5 of FIGURE 4, hole 22 may be formed by resting stock metal 24 upon a support 34 having a recess 36 corresponding in diameter to the desired diameter of the hole 22, and then perforating sheet or strip 24 by means of a cylindrical punch die 38. Die 38 has a cutting edge 40 of either solid or hollow cross section, corresponding in diameter to the desired diameter of the hole.

Although I have described the impressing of indentations 16 and the punching of hole 22 as successive steps, these operations might be accomplished simultaneously by using a suitable die. Thus, punch die 38 and a plurality of plunger dies 30 might be united into a unified structure having the plane of the cutting edge of the punch die sufficiently below the plane of the cutting edges of the plunger dies so that when the desired indentation has been impressed into stock metal 24, the punch die has passed through the sheet or strip 24.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary plan view of the sheet or strip 24 of stock metal shown in FIGURE 4 after a starshaped blank 42, illustrated in FIGURE 8, has been punched out of the sheet or strip. The center of blank 42 is coincident with the center of the reference circle 26 discussed earlier, and also coincident with the center of hole 22. Blank 42 has four radially extending fingers 14 each of which extends normally through an indentation 16 in the strip or sheet of stock metal, thereby causing a transverse indentation 16 to appear in each of the fingers toward their outer extremities.

FIGURE 7 is a partially diagrammatic and fragmentary cross sectional view taken along the line 77 of FIGURE 6 illustrating how blank 42 is punched from stock metal 24. The stock metal rests upon a support 44 having a recess 46 with dimensions corresponding to the desired dimensions of blank 42. A punch die 48 having a cutting edge similarly corresponding to the desired dimensions of blank 42 is passed through stock metal 42 into recess 46 to form the blank.

Referring to FIGURE 9, after blank 42 has been prepared, it is placed between the male portion 50 and female portion 52 of a composite die 53 such that the side of the blank with indentations 16 faces the male portion of the die. As shown in FIGURE 9, when the male portion 50 of the die is inserted into the female portion 52, fingers 14 of blank 42 bend upward to form a socket 12 with indentations 16 on the inside of the socket. Socket 12 is perhaps pictured most clearly in FIGURE 1.

The peripheral edges of the male portion 50 of die 53 are inclined at the angle which it is desired to impart to fingers '14. This inclination is preferably such that the diameter of the socket in the plane defined by the innermost edge of indentations 16 is slightly less than the diameter of the girdle 54 of the stone to be mounted in the socket. In this way, the inherent resiliency of the fingers helps hold the jewel snugly in place. A cementing agent may also be used to help atfix the stone to the socket.

FIGURE 10 is a partially diagrammatic and cross sectional view of the socket shown in FIGURE 1 along the line 10-10 thereof which has been mounted on a ring 55 and into which a round-cut jewel 56 has been inserted such that its girdle 54 is within the indentations 16 in the inside of fingers .14. Jewel 56 is resting upon the seat or shoulder portions 18 of the indentations and is also held in place by the clinch or cramp portions 20 of the indentations. At the center of the cup-shaped base portion of socket 12 hole -22 is shown, which hole allows light to pass through the jewel when the socket has been/" mounted upon a jewelry piece such as a ring, brooch or bracelet and thereby increases the sparkle and brilliancy of the jewel. In FIGURE 10 socket 12 is shown mounted upon a ring 55 such that the curved portion of the ring abuts the side of the socket. The mounting may be accomplished by soldering, brazing or other suitable means. As also shown in FIGURE 10, the external periphery of socket 12 is a truncated cone in form.

Although in the embodiment of my invention shown in the accompanying drawings indentations 16 are toward the extremities of fingers 14 when the star-shaped blank 42 illustrated in FIGURE 8 has been punched out of sheet 24, and also when the socket 12 illustrated in FIGURE 1 has been formed, it is a feature of my invention that it is possible to vary the prominence of jewel 56 and its setting simply by varying the diameter of reference circle 26.

More specifically, the diameter of reference circle 26 may be selected such that indentations 16 are not toward the extremities of fingers 14 when star-shaped blank 42 is formed, but are instead more toward the center of fingers -14. In this way, when the socket is formed and a jewel is inserted into the socket, the jewel will be located lower in the socket and a lower setting will be obtained. When the jewel has been inserted into such a setting, excess length of fingers 14 may be trimmed by means of a file, snippers or other suitable tool.

Although a round-cut jewel is shown in FIGURE 10, a square, emerald-cut, .marquise, baguette or other variantcut stone may also be used if the profile of indentations 16 is suitably modified to conform to the shape of the particular jewel being set, and the location of fingers 14 and indentations 16 is also suitably modified. Thus, if the portion of the stone to be inserted into the indentations does not have a circular cross section, the form of the reference curve for positioning the indentations upon the sheet of metal would be suitably varied from a circle, such as reference circle 26, and would be selected such that when fingers 14 are bent upward to form socket 12 as shown in FIGURE 9, indentations 16 are suitably located to grip the jewel. This selection may be accomplished by means of a trial and error process in which paper or cloth equivalents of blank 42 are prepared, formed into a socket, and marked with the desired location of the indentations. These paper or cloth mockups may then be used directly to position the dies which form the indentations, or a reference curve may instead be drawn tangential to the indentations on the mockups, and this reference curve be used to position the dies. It is preferable to use the mockups directly rather than use a reference curve when the reference curve does not take the form of a simple figure, such as a circle.

It is seen therefore that by practicing my invention in .the manners described it is possible to provide a jewel setting which has simple, clean lines and which may be used for small as well as large size stones, a setting which uses a minimum amount of setting material and also allows as much as possible of the stone to be seen. It is also seen that a jewel setting may be provided by a method which requires a minimum amount of custom handwork, applies a minimum amount of undesirable stresses to the setting stock, and allows for variation in the prominence of the stone.

Although specific embodiments of my invent-ion have been described and shown, variations in structural detail and method steps within the scope of the appended claims are possible and are contemplated. For example, although an embodiment having four fingers 14 has been shown and described, it is apparent that a setting with either more or less than four fingers would also be within my inventive concept. There is no intention therefore of limitation to the exact structures and methods herein set forth.

I claim:

1. The method of preparing a jewel setting comprising the steps of successively: punching a substantially starshaped piece of metal having a hole at its center and an indentation toward the extremity of each finger of the star out of a sheet of metal; forming the star-shaped piece of metal into a socket by bending the fingers of the star upward such that the indentations in the fingers of the star are on the inside of the socket; and inserting a jewel into the socket such that a portion of its girdle lies within each indentation.

2. The method of preparing a jewel setting comprising the steps of successively: punching a substantially starshaped piece of metal having an indentation toward the extremity of each finger of the star out of a sheet of metal; punching a hole through the center of the starshaped piece of metal; forming the star-shaped piece of metal into a socket by bending the fingers of the star upward such that the indentations in the fingers of the star are on the inside of the socket; and inserting a jewel into the socket such that a portion of its girdle lies within each indentation.

3. The method of preparing a jewel setting comprising the steps of successively: impressing a plurality of indentations into a flat metallic sheet, each indentation having an edge tangential to a reference circle of predetermined diameter while simultaneously punching a hole into the metallic sheet at the center of the circle; punching a blank out of the metallic sheet having a center coincident with the center of the circle and a plurality of radially extending fingers, each finger extending normally through an indentation; locating the blank between a die having a male and a female portion such that the side of the blank with the indentations faces the male portion of the die; inserting the male portion of the die into the female portion and thereby bending the fingers of the blank toward the male portion to form a socket with the indentations on the inside of the socket; and inserting a jewel into the socket such that a portion of its girdle lies within each indentation.

4. The method of preparing a jewel setting comprising the steps of successively: impressing a plurality of indentations into a flat metallic sheet, each indentation having an edge tangential to a reference circle of predetermined diameter; punching a hole into the metallic sheet at the center of the circle; punching a blank out of the metallic sheet having a center coincident with the center of the circle and a plurality of radially extending fingers, each finger extending normally through an indentation; locating the blank between a die having a male and a female portion such that the side of the blank with the indentations faces the male portion of the die; inserting the male portion of the die into the female portion and thereby bending the fingers of the blank toward the male portion to form a socket with the indentations on the inside of the socket; and inserting a jewel into the socket such that a portion of its girdle lies within each indentation.

5. The method recited in claim 4 further characterized by brazing the socket to a base after the jewel is inserted into the socket.

6. The method recited in claim 4 further characterized by soldering the socket to a base after the jewel is in serted into the socket.

7. The method recited in claim 4 wherein the fingers of the blank are bent toward the male portion of the die such that the diameter of the socket in the plane defined by the innermost edge of the indentations is slightly less than the diameter of the girdle of the jewel.

8. The method of preparing a jewel setting comprising the steps of successively: impressing a plurality of indentations into a fiat metallic sheet, each indentation having an edge tangential to a reference circle of predetermined diameter; punching a hole into the metallic sheet at the center of the circle; punching a blank out of the metallic sheet having a center coincident with the center of the circle and a plurality of radially extending fingers, each finger extending normally through an indentation; locating the blank between a die having a male and a female portion such that the side of the blank with the indentations faces the male portion of the die; inserting the male .portion of the die into the female portion and thereby bending the fingers of the blank toward the male portion to form a socket with the indentations on the inside of the socket; inserting a jewel into the socket such that a portion of its girdle lies within each indentation; and trimming excess metal from the extremities of the fingers.

9. The method of preparing a jewel setting comprising the steps of successively: punching a substantially starshaped piece of metal having a hole at its center and an indentation on each finger of the star out of a sheet of metal; forming the star-shaped piece of metal int-o a socket by bending the fingers of the star upward such that the indentations in the fingers of the star are on the inside of the socket; and inserting a jewel into the socket such that a portion of its girdle lies within each indentation.

10. The method of preparing a jewel setting comprising the steps of successively: punching a substantially star-shaped piece of metal having a hole at its center and an indentation in each finger of the star out of a sheet of metal; forming the star-shaped piece of metal into a socket by bending the fingers of the star upward such that the indentations in the fingers of the star are on the inside of the socket; inserting a jewel into the socket such that a portion of its girdle lies within each indentation; and trimming excess metal from the extremities of the fingers.

11. The method of preparing a jewel setting comprising the steps of successively: punching a substantially starshaped piece of metal having an indentation in each finger of the star out of a sheet of metal; punching a hole through the center of the star-shaped piece of metal; forming the star-shaped piece of metal into a socket by bending the fingers of the star upward such that the indentations in the fingers of the star are on the inside of the socket; and inserting a jewel into the socket such that a portion of its girdle lies within each indentation.

12. The method of preparing a jewel setting comprising the steps of successively: punching a substantially starshaped piece of metal having an indentation in each finger of the star out of a sheet of metal; punching a hole through the center of the star-shaped piece of metal; forming the star-shaped piece of metal into a socket by bending the fingers of the star upward such that the indentations in the fingers of the star are on the inside of the socket; inserting a jewel into the socket such that a portion of its girdle lies within each indentation; and trimming excess metal from the extremities of the fingers.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 54,646 5/1866 Hoard 29193.5 204,149 5/1878 Heckman 29-193.5 2,811,024 10/1957 Thompson 29-1606 X 3,088,194 5/1963 Donadio 29-160.6 3,109,229 11/1963 Cataldi 29-1606 RICHARD H. EANES, JR., Primary Examiner. 

1. THE METHOD OF PREPARING A JEWEL SETTING COMPRISING THE STEPS OF SUCCESSIVELY: PUNCHING A SUBSTANTIALLY STARSHAPED PIECE OF METAL HAVING A HOLE AT ITS CENTER AND AN INDENTATION TOWARD THE EXTREMITY OF EACH FINGER OF THE STAR OUT OF A SHEET OF METAL; FORMING THE STAR-SHAPED PIECE OF METAL INTO A SOCKET BY BENDING THE FINGERS OF THE STAR UPWARD SUCH THAT THE INDENTATIONS IN THE FINGERS OF THE STAR ARE ON THE INSIDE OF THE SOCKET; AND INSERTING A JEWEL INTO THE SOCKET SUCH THAT A PORTION OF ITS GIRDLE LIES WITHIN EACH INDENTATION. 